The County Government of Kakamega has been forced to cut its budget for the current financial year by Sh1.14 billion after it failed to meet its revenue collection projections.
In the first supplementary budget presented before the County Assembly, the approved budget estimates was scaled down from Sh17.7 billion to Sh16.5 billion.
"Own source revenue is still an area of concern because out of a target of Sh2.2 billion, the county treasury had managed to collect Sh218.1 million by October 31, this year," said Gildon Shioso, the chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Mr Shioso said the development budget reduced from Sh6.32 billion to Sh5.24 billion.
He said some vote heads had been reduced and others removed and funds reallocated on other viable projects. It was also noted that the county government has pending bills amounting to Sh1.1 billion.
Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives docket had been allocated Sh1.7 billion in the approved budget estimates for the current financial year, comprising of Sh528 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh1.2 billion for development respectively. But in the supplementary budget, the total allocation has been reduced to Sh1.1 billion comprising of Sh105 million and Sh1.04 billion for recurrent and development expenditures respectively.
The Health docket had been allocated Sh1.4 billion comprising Sh839.4 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh639.9 million for development. However, that was revised to Sh1 billion and Sh407.9 million for recurrent and development respectively.
The Department of Education, Science and Technology was allocated Sh926.2 million comprising Sh444.2 million and Sh482 million for recurrent and development respectively but in the supplementary budget, the total allocation has dropped to Sh871 million with developing getting Sh426.4 million and Sh448 million being set aside for recurrent expenditure.
The Roads, Energy, and Public Works docket was allocated Sh1.34 billion in the 2023/24 approved budget comprising Sh33 million and Sh1.31 billion for recurrent and development respectively, an allocation that has been slashed to Sh1.26 billion with Sh21.79 million earmarked for recurrent expenditure and development expenditure capped at Sh1.24 billion.
The Lands, Physical Planning, Urban Areas, and Housing docket had Sh775 million and that has been revised to Sh741.4 million.
The Social Services, Youth and Sports had its budget slashed from Sh1.3 billion to Sh854 million, while that of Water, Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change had a budget of Sh513.5 million but was increased to Sh563.3 million.
Public Service and County Administration had been allocated Sh6.9 billion but it has been reduced to Sh6.8 billion, the governor's office had Sh523 million in the approved budget but that has been reduced to Sh422 million, with the Finance and Economic Planning docket getting Sh563.6 million down from a previous allocation of Sh680.94 million.
The Department of ICT got Sh130.3 million from the previous allocation of Sh180 million.
